Former Hill Intern Arrested in Egypt

A former intern for Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.) was arrested Tuesday during protests in Egypt for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail, the Associated Press reports.

Derrik Sweeney, 19, is a student a Georgetown University who interned in Luetkemeyer’s Washington office from February to May 2011. Sweeney had attended the Egyptian protests with Luke Gates, 21, a student at Indiana University, and Gregory Porter, 19, a student at Drexel University. The three Americans have been in Egypt studying Arabic at the American University in Cairo since August.

Kevin Sweeney, Derrik’s father, told the AP that his son used the phone in the consul general’s office to call his family in Missouri early Wednesday morning. He spoke to his mother briefly.

Kevin Sweeney said his son insisted that he did not participate in the demonstrations, but was observing them from a rooftop. He also told his family that he had not been tortured.